BJP will be single largest party after 2014 polls

October 17, 2013

New Delhi: In what may be a comforting development for the principal opposition party, BJP, a new poll survey has suggested that it will emerge as the single largest party in 2014 Lok Sabha election by winning close to 162 seats.

The survey has also predicted grim prospects for the ruling Congress party, saying it would be able to win only 102 Lok Sabha seats, reports said on Thursday.

The survey, however, claims that even after emerging as the single largest party, the alliance led by the BJP will be well short of a majority, leaving several regional players holding the key to power in New Delhi.

As per the Times Now-CVoter survey, the BJP-led NDA is projected to get 186 and the UPA led by Congress is expected to win around 117 seats, which would mean 240 crucial seats with go to others.

The survey also predicts that Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the Left Front, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s BSP will emerge as the most important players after the 2014 polls.

The outcome of the 2014 elections will make government formation an extremely complicated exercise, giving the regional satraps more bargaining power.

The survey found that reaching the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha will be a far cry for any pre-election formation.

Among the “others”, the Left Front is projected to get the largest number, 32 seats, followed by BSP with 31 and AIADMK with 28 seats. The SP and Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress are expected to bag 25 and 23 seats respectively.

The survey also highlights that the Janta Dal (U) is likely to suffer major drubbing following its slit with BJP and its seats tally will expectedly come down to 9 from 20 in 2009.

The survey predicts a hung Parliament in 2014 with nobody really in a clear position to form a government if current voter pattern continues ill the actual voting.

The ruling Congress is likely to suffer major losses in those state that helped it propel the UPA to power in 2009. More importantly, the electoral gains in Karnataka will be too short to make up for the loss elsewhere, the survey says.

The BJP, on the other hand, will make significant gains in Rajasthan and relatively smaller gains in several other states; this is unlikely to be enough to put it in prime position for power. The survey

The poll indicates Congress suffering the worst setback in Andhra Pradesh, going from 33 seats to just seven, while Jagan Reddy’s YSR Congress and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) are predicted to get 13 seats each. Among other states where Congress is expected to suffer losses are Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala.

In Rajasthan, the survey showed Congress winning just five seats, a loss of 15 seats, all of them picked up by the BJP. Similarly, in UP too, the Congress’ tally will come down from 21 as it will lose 16 seats and the same would be bagged by Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The survey also indicated that Delhi would go to the BJP which would bag six of the seven seats. In Maharashtra, the survey showed the Congress losing six from its 2009 tally of 17 seats and NCP losing two, while BJP and the Shiv Sena are expected to pick up four and three seats each over their 2009 tally, bringing their tally to 13 and 14 seats respectively of the state’s 48 seats.

In West Bengal, Trinamool will gain four seats in 2014 taking its tally to 23 and the Left will just pick up one more totalling 16 seats. The Congress would be a major loser here, losing three of its six seats in West Bengal.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK’s tally is expected to come down to just five seats from 18 in 2009, while AIADMK’s will go up from nine to 28 seats.